The ultimate foglight upgrade H11 (not LED or HID)

Yes, they will be plug and play. Overall are a great value, they are very inexpensive new and reviewed in the SAE thread. However the main drawback is they are 6000k in color, which really isn’t great in fog or poor weather. If wanting that look, I’d suggest checking out DD’s elite fogs, which have the same look but are higher performing and available in a much better selective yellow.
https://www.diodedynamics.com/elite-series-fog-lamps-for-2012-2022-toyota-tacoma-pair.html

 

found a set off a 2018 in the FS section for 35 bucks. so I will just use them with the h11 lights I purchased.

 

Great price. But the LED fogs are fully sealed and not serviceable. You cannot change a bulb or anything in them. The halogen bulbs won’t work, you need halogen assemblies.

 

How do the elites compare to the ss3 sports? They are the same price but the sports put out 400 more candelas. I know the ss3 pros are at the top of the list.

 

No I bought standard fogs not LED

the ones you listed are nice though.

 

damn it so I looked at them and I really like the fog lights in yellow. Plus the daytime running light in them. Well I freaking ordered them.It’s just money right? Lol

 

Found the thread for the foglight upgrade I was looking for. Seems info is a little dated but am looking for a h11 bulb recommendation that is 3000k. Looking to keep the same color temp as the headlights.

 

Replacement LED SAE assemblies have advanced to the point they beat out halogen fog bulb upgrades in every measurable metric, hence no further effort has been put into advancing this thread after the Subaru fog experiment. The LED SAE units using TIR optics have become so powerful and refined that the halogen fogs just don't have the raw output to compete even with the best bulb upgrades.

The best plug and play stock wattage bulb is the Tungsram Platinums, however they will be closer to 3500k color temp. But if you have upgraded bulbs in your headlights (you should) then it should likely be a close match.

 

I saw your posts in the SAE LED Fog light thread and thought I'd share my opinion. The OEM H11 fog lights (which I think you have based off the other thread) are pretty darn good. Like Crash has mentioned, the SS3's are better. But I have the Tungsram Platinum H11's in mine and it's plenty of output for a fog light. Probably one of the best OEM Halogen fog lights I've seen. I haven't felt the need to improve the fog lights on the Tacoma after putting a high performance bulb in. Don't get me wrong, the SS3's are absolutely amazing and blow the stock fog lights out of the water (especially the Max), but it's up to you to decide if it's worth the money over $35 bulbs. For reference I have SS3 Pro Selective Yellow fog lights on 2 cars, one is about to be swapped with SS3 Max Selective Yellow and SSC2 white fog lights on my motorcycle.

 

@crashnburn80, do you by chance have any data on the H11 fog lights tested at the same distance as the LED Fog lights? I'm curious how the H11 Fog lights with Tungsram Platinum (or the old GE equivalent) compares at 18' to some of the LED options out there. I know it will be less, but just curious.

 

Only for stock H11 bulbs, no upgraded fog bulbs tested at the standard test distance unfortunately. I don't have the OEM halogen fogs anymore either.

Here is the H11 TRD wide-angle fogs vs OEM TRD Rigid Fogs


You can compare the numbers to DD Elite vs Sport in selective yellow:

 

Do you have an incandescent lux meter? If you are really curious a basic meter for testing halogens is inexpensive. You could pick one up if you don't have one, then compare running a stock bulb fog to the platinum bulb and do the following: measure stock performance at some given distance, measure platinum performance from the same distance (say park the truck 10' from the wall at night and cover one of the fogs, pull the headlight fuse if you don't have the fog anytime mod). The divide the lux difference between the 2 readings to get a ratio of the performance increase, say the platinums gave a 30% intensity increase. Then apply that 30% multiplier to my stock 203 lux reading, aka 1.3 x 203 lux = ~264 lux. It would be a rough ballpark, which would then give you a comparison data point for everything in the fog thread.

 

Thank you! So just as a complete guess, would it be reasonable to assume the Tungsram would possibly around 350 lux at that same distance? Basing that off the 3rd gen H11 thread that showed pretty much double the output over the factory bulb. I think it would be hard to guess though since the optics are set up completely different from headlight optics.

 

I do not. What is a decent recommended one? I have tried the phone apps, but we all know those can be very inconsistant.

 

It won't be that high. Projector headlight optics have the best possible performance return for the high efficiency bulbs, where focus is the most important attribute and the Tungsram bulbs have the finest filaments with the best focus, hence their +130, +120 and Platinum bulbs are all the best performing H11s in the 3rd Gen headlight assembly. Looking at the reflector testing in the 2nd Gen thread would be a better comparison, but even there a headlight is going to have a focused hot spot that will play better off the efficiency and focus increases compared to a distributed pattern that doesn't have a focal point, like a fog. The GE +120s in that thread would be the closest comparison to the Platinums. In the headlights the +120s saw about a 43% improvement, I'd speculate in the fogs it is going to be a bit less.

In reflector optics you can give up some very minor filament precision for higher power and still sometimes come out ahead. If you wanted to experiment with the Philips +150 and Osram +200 H11s to compare to the Platinums, that could be interesting. You'll note the Philips +150 in the 2nd Gen headlights beat out the GE +120s by a fair margin. Hard to say how well that will translate to fogs without testing. I've got a single Philips +150 H11 I could send you from headlight tests if you wanted to give it a shot. PM me.

Phone apps certainly won't cut it. Something very basic is fine, I started with this one many years ago, it would do the job. Note that it isn't capable of accurately reading LED or HID source, need to get much more expensive meters to do that accurately.

$35 Dr.meter LX1330B Digital Illuminance Light Meter, 0-200000 Measurement Range Lux Meter

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Meter-LX1330B-Digital-Illuminance-Light/dp/B005A0ETXY?crid=PRH8HZDQ7TKB&keywords=lux+meter&qid=1669759155&sprefix=lux+meter%2Caps%2C268&sr=8-1-spons&smid=A3I24HLBNSH6IU

 

Yeah I didn't like how the Subaru fogs threw more light forward and less to the sides. Those DD elites are impressive and I love the cutoffs making them road friendly.

Thanks for the reply, I saw those bulbs earlier in the thread but it was quite some time ago and didn't know if they were still the "best" choice for the OME fogs.

I agree the OME fogs are impressive. I was looking for any info to simply get the most out of them.

I haven't done the headlight upgrade YET. I'm tempted to make my own harness for the headlights and fogs. I know there are two seperate harnesses available for them, but instead of running two 12awg power sources from the battery have one 10awg supplying the four relays and then maybe just 14awg from each relay to the independent lamps. Probably take more time an effort then it's worth but I'll see how far I get before giving up.

Thanks! @crashnburn80 for sharing all your hard work on the headlights and fogs

 

You're in good company! I bought an SS3 LED Yellow SAE/DOT Pro Fog Light Kit with a set of SAE/DOT Clear Lenses two years ago, but never installed them. I remain happy with my "ultimate foglight upgrade H11 (not LED or HID)," in which I still run Flösser 90w H11s. At this point, I'm thinking about selling the SS3 setup, still NIB...

 

Or maybe add driving lenses for aux high beam and get creative with the mounting. Hard sell with the 100w harnessed Osrams on the high beam though.

 

That's kinda what I was figuring when comparing output from the 3rd gen H11 thread to the fog lights. I just didn't know the best way to articulate it. lol

Thank you for that link! I'll have to do a little looking around for bulb prices. I have a set of new Tungsram Platinum's, new Philips H9's (not recommended, but it's data either way) and I may have a Philips Racing Vision. But the Racing Vision's (if I still have one) would be used, not sure how many hours though. I have a second set of the H11 OEM Tacoma fog lights as well. The are used, but still very good shape. As much as it would be nice to use a brand new one, I think a good condition one will be fine since my data zero point will be different than everyone else's due to the nature of these kinds of tests.

What kind of price range would a reasonable LED light meter cost? I think you have mentioned it in the SAE Fog or Driving thread, but that's a lot of deep digging to find. Not that I am going to test LED housings in any sort of capacity like you have, but I'm just a curious dude and I'd like to make some of my own comparisons of random lighting. I don't think an HID meter would be worth having anymore since most stuff is going LED, although I prefer HID.

If I were in your shoes, I would absolutely throw those in the lower grill with the Yellow lenses for additional bad weather lighting. Or even get the driving lens for additional High beams. Maybe mount them on another vehicle or motorcycle?? I don't think it's worth getting rid of them, because it never fails that a few weeks later you come up with an idea where you could use them.

 

I'm happy to send you my single Racing Vision bulb, basically new, just used for headlight testing if desired.

LED meters get complicated pretty quickly. There are many ~$100 meters than can accurately measure a 'white' LED light source, only. These meters do not have calibration adjustments, and therefore will not be accurate in measuring other colors or incandescent light sources, despite advertising they 'can' measure other light sources. Yes, they can, but it will not be scientifically accurate at all. See post #5488 as a demonstrative example of the discrepancy between and LED and incandescent meter in measuring LED. The inverse would be true using an LED specific meter to measure an incandescent light source. If only interested in measuring LED white (5000k-6000k-ish) and incandescent, it would be most economical to get a white LED meter and an inexpensive incandescent meter.

For an white LED only meter, a suggestion would be the Extech LT40

$104 Extech LT40 LED Light Meter

https://www.amazon.com/Extech-LT40-...d=1669871312&sprefix=extech+lt,aps,230&sr=8-1

But, if you want to measure multiple light sources and colors, the Extech LT45 is really where it is at

$322 Extech LT45 LED Light Meter

https://www.amazon.com/Extech-LT40-...9871312&sprefix=extech+lt,aps,230&sr=8-1&th=1

The Extech LT45 has calibration settings to switch between measuring; incandescent, LED white, LED yellow, LED red and several other colors. It will be the most useful for automotive where you may want to evaluate incandescents, LED headlights, white and yellow LED fogs, or red brake lights. Other meters will not have that versatility. Yellow is really the big functionality add here, vs running 2 units for an incandescent and white LED meter. I have an LT45. If you think this is something you'd get into as a hobbiest, I'd really recommend the LT45, as the other meters seem more appealing in price at first, but then you want to measure something they are incapable of accurately doing and need to purchase additional equipment, when it is cheaper just to buy the good one the first time.